Spanky McFarland

From BR Bullpen

Joe McFarland

Biographical Information[edit]

Spanky McFarland has been a longtime college coach.

McFarland played baseball and football at Hillsdale College. He was in training camp with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League in 1976. Spanky was an assistant at Hillsdale College (1977). He was head coach at Kellogg Community College in 1979-1980, going 33-13. He was then an assistant at Appalachian State University (1981), Florida State University (1982), Georgia Tech (1983-1985) and the University of South Florida (1986-1990). He coached Kevin Brown and Dave Eiland while an assistant.

Spanky was at Northern Illinois University as head coach from 1991-1997, restarting a program that had been discontinued in 1982. He led the team to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference title in 1996 and has won 143 games while there.

McFarland became head coach at James Madison University in 1998. In 2002, JMU set a school record for wins at 44-16 and McFarland was named Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year. In 2008, James Madison won the CAA Tournament for the first time and Spanky reached 500 career coaching wins. He retired after the 2015 season.

McFarland ran a coaching clinic for the Austrian Baseball Federation in 2007. He is the author of Developing Pitchers and Coaching Pitchers. He is also a deacon at First Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg.

Source: JMU bio

Year-by-Year Coaching Record[edit]

Year School Overall Record Conference Record Notes
1991 Northern Illinois University 11-25
1992 Northern Illinois University 18-36 6-16
1993 Northern Illinois University 16-34-1 6-13
1994 Northern Illinois University 23-30 10-14
1995 Northern Illinois University 27-29 9-7
1996 Northern Illinois University 27-30 12-10
1997 Northern Illinois University 19-29 12-12
1998 James Madison University 27-29 11-8
1999 James Madison University 22-35-1 7-17
2000 James Madison University 37-22 12-9
2001 James Madison University 36-23-1 10-11
2002 James Madison University 44-16 15-5 CWS Regionals
2003 James Madison University 30-26 13-7
2004 James Madison University 28-26 8-16
2005 James Madison University 20-35 8-16
2006 James Madison University 38-21 22-8
2007 James Madison University 22-31 11-17
2008 James Madison University 39-19 20-9 CWS Regionals
2009 James Madison University 30-24 12-11
2010 James Madison University 30-23 18-6
2011 James Madison University 42-19 21-9 CWS Regionals
2012 James Madison University 16-35-2 10-20
2013 James Madison University 25-30 11-15
2014 James Madison University 17-36 8-12
2015 James Madison University 18-33 6-18


Related Sites[edit]